(DOWNLOAD) "Koppers Co., Inc. v. Aetna Cas. and Sur. Co." by United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Koppers Co., Inc. v. Aetna Cas. and Sur. Co.
- Author : United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- Release Date : January 28, 1996
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 81 KB
Description
Argued May 2, 1996 Filed October 28, 1996) OPINION OF THE COURT Koppers Company, Inc. (""Koppers""), 1 asserts breach of contract and declaratory judgment claims against its liability insurers, based on their denial of coverage for various environmental property damage claims. Koppers entered into settlement agreements with several of its insurers prior to trial, leaving only certain excess liability insurers as litigating defendants. Following the jury's determinations that the occurrence-based policies had been triggered and that Koppers had incurred a total of about $70 million in property damage liability, the district court entered judgment for Koppers, holding its excess insurers liable for the full amount of the claim without reducing the verdict to account for Koppers' settlements with the other insurers. On appeal, the excess insurers allege four errors under Pennsylvania law: (1) the court erroneously instructed the jury that the occurrence-based policies would be triggered if any property damage occurred during the policy period, even if the initial cause of that damage was an event (such as a chemical spill) that occurred prior to the policy period; (2) the court erroneously instructed the jury that the insurer has the burden of proving that the specific property damage that occurred was not fortuitous but was expected or intended by the insured; (3) the court abused its discretion by excluding proffered evidence of Koppers' failure to mitigate the damage; and (4) the court erroneously failed to reduce the judgment to account for the plaintiff's settlements with other insurers. 2 We believe the district court committed reversible error with respect only to the last claim, and we will accordingly reverse and remand with instructions to reduce the judgment to account for the settling insurers' apportioned shares.